Owning a Car

No matter who you are, or what you've done, how you behave and what you do at the roadside can have a big effect on you and your licence

BE POLITE

No matter what you’ve done (and no matter
what they say you’ve done) you must pass the attitude test. That means: Be
polite and respectful (“Good morning/afternoon/evening officer. How are you?”)
No jokes. No sarcasm. Don’t say: “Can’t you see I’m on the phone here?” or “How
about we just wait until your father gets here, and we’ll let the grown-ups
decide?” or ‘Wow – is that a real gun? Can I hold it?” Also, no jokes about the
real criminals all being on holiday this evening. Know what I mean?

Stopped by the cops? Play 'thinks Vs says' - think what you want. Say only what's in your own best interests - and for god's sake, pass the attitude test

No matter what is said or alleged by the
officer(s) be polite and (very important) non-threatening. The cops are quite
used to dealing effectively with scumbags – don’t become one, because things go
downhill rapidly for you if you do. The police have significant discretionary
powers.

And in fairness, being a copper can be a
pretty shitty job. You have no way of knowing how many hours/minutes/days it’s
been before he’s had to attend a fatal crash and then knock on the next of
kin’s door and deliver the bad news.

DON’T ADMIT ANYTING

Even if you did it, there’s no legal
compulsion to confess. And if you’re stopped at the roadside by a highway
patrol car, bear in mind that you might be filmed and the conversation might be
recorded. If you make an admission – even as a joke – you could easily sink
yourself later, in court.

Here’s an example:

Police officer: “Do you know why I’ve
pulled you over, driver?”

Driver: “Speeding?”

Police officer: “Do you know how fast you
were going?”

Driver: “About 75km/h?”

If you’re in a 60 zone, that’s it. You’re
toast. The police prosecutor wheels out the video in court, and there’s you
admitting you were driving at what you thought was about 75km/h.

So, be polite, but you don’t have to dig
your own grave, hop in it, and help the system pull the trigger.

RESPONSES

If you did it, don’t make any admission.
Don’t admit it. Not even a little bit. See, the police will compile the
evidence – statements, CCTV footage, their own camera footage, whatever. If there’s
a problem with any of that, there’s a problem with their case – not having
evidence beyond reasonable doubt is a big problem for them, procedurally. It
means: you get off.

However, if you also admit the offence,
that’s all they need. This is why the cops always try to get you to admit it.
It’s also why you never should do so. Never. Absolutely never. You don’t have
to deny it – but you should never admit it.

However, if you didn’t do it. Deny it. But
don’t get wrapped up in a conversation. If the cops allege you drove through a
red light (this happened to me) and you didn’t do it – you need to deny it.

Police officer: “You just drove through a
red light.”

Me: “Where?”

Police officer: “Just at the top of the
hill, over the crest.”

Me: “No, officer, I didn’t. The light was
green.”

Police officer: “You did. It was red. We
both saw it.”

Me: “With all due respect, officer, I
didn’t. I don’t want to argue with you at the roadside, but I’m not going to
admit to something I didn’t do. I’m not going to make any other statement in
relation to this interview.”

(This is after all the ‘good mornings’ and
handing over my licence and confirming that the car is registered.)

Police officer: “Are you trying to be
smart?”

Me: “No officer. I think you’re mistaken.
But this isn’t the time or the place to debate it. If you write me a ticket
we’ll sort it out in court.”

At this point the police officer issued me
with a caution to “drive more carefully in future”, to which I said: “sure”. I
also thanked him for his time, and I waited for him to leave first (important,
in case you forget to indicate upon pulling away, of commit some other minor
infringement because you’re highly stressed).

Former Prime Minister Paul Keating was
accused of exactly the same thing – he went to court over it. It was the
officer’s word against his. In this scenario, it’s not an each-way bet. This is
because you are innocent until proven guilty. In other words, you don’t have to
prove you didn’t do it; they have to prove you did. So, unless you cave in an
admit it, in the absence of any other evidence (CCTV, still image, cop-car
camera, recorded audio of you confessing, etc) they fail.

Good for you.

A NOTEWORTHY EXPERIENCE

Gather your own evidence. Whip out your
smart phone and photograph the scene. (The cops cannot compel you not to do
this. It’s happening in a public place; it’s fair game.) If they’re breaking
the rules, it could later help your case – and it’s entirely reasonable for you
to gather evidence on your own behalf. Note the police officer’s name and/or
number, photograph the registration plate of the cop car (and any witnesses or
involved cars if you are in a crash). If the police officer asks you what you
think you’re doing, tell them you’re gathering evidence to substantiate what
happened in case you need to rely on it later. Take wide-view shots of the
scene from a few different vantage points and also closeups of relevant items
(such as number plates of witnesses, and cars involved).

You can also video the scene – but see my
warning about that below.

When the cops leave, either whip out your
smart phone (or, old fashioned, I know) a notepad and make notes of exactly
what happened. In other words, the facts – the who, what, when, where, etc. Try
to remember exactly what was said, by whom and when. Write down the actual
words as you remember them, not a summary.

Then, e-mail them to yourself, along with
all the pictures you took. Use a cloud-based mail platform like Gmail, which
ensures your evidence won’t ever get lost. (E-mailing it to yourself also
establishes the time you did it, which is important. So-called ‘contemporaneous
notes’ – made at the time of the event or soon after – have high evidentiary
value in court.) If your smart phone was GPS it will also log the time and the
place the shots were taken, which is also good for evidentiary value.

HOW NOT TO BECOME A CRIMINAL WITH YOUR
SMART PHONE

Here’s an important warning – smart phones
are capable of recording conversations covertly. In most Australian states it
is a criminal offence to do so, unless the other party to the conversation is
aware they are being recorded. Just recording the conversation between two
people where there’s a presumption of privacy is a crime. Take contemporaneous
notes instead.

After all this, if you’re handed an
infringement notice, thank the officer politely, let them drive off first, even
if it’s something of a wait for you. Then contact your solicitor for advice
about defending yourself in court.

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